12/21/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

12/21/2022 – On Tuesday, the ten participants of the Gashimov Memorial played the last three rounds of 15+10 rapid chess in Baku. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who had grabbed the lead early on, scored a win and two draws to remain atop the standings. Paco Vallejo and Rauf Mamedov shared second place, two points behind the youngster (points count double in the rapid). Following the rest day, 18 rounds of blitz will take place on Thursday and Friday. | Photo: Official site

12/20/2022 – A seventh win in a row left Kirill Alekseenko in the sole lead of the massive main tournament at the Sunway Chess Festival in Sitges. The Russian grandmaster defeated Karen Grigoryan with white to widen the gap atop the standings — the leader has a full point lead over Amin Tabatabaei, who got the better of Daniel Dardha with black on Monday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

12/20/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

12/20/2022 – In the endgame a rook is usually much stronger than a minor piece. But when only a few pawns are left on the board the attacker must be careful. In the diagram position it is Black to move. What did he do to win the game?

12/19/2022 – On the second day of the rapid tournament at the Gashimov Memorial, Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov kept the lead he had gained by winning all three of his games on Sunday. In the rapid, points count double, so Abdusattorov now has a 10/12 score after six rounds. Rauf Mamedov is in second place (9 points), while Wang Hao (8 points) is third, a point behind the Azerbaijani. | Photo: Official site

12/17/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

12/17/2022 – This week, Daniel King examines games from the Sitges Open, featuring some nice tactics. Then, in more detail, two games that feature the Rossolimo. For the unwary, this is a dangerous opening! | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

12/17/2022 – Halfway through the 10-round main tournament in Sitges, Kirill Alekseenko and Karthikeyan Murali still have a perfect score, after beating Abhimanyu Puranik and Aditya Samant respectively. Five players stand a half point back, including second seed Hans Niemann, who on Friday drew Karen Grigoryan with the black pieces. | Pictured: The great-looking analysis room in Sitges

12/16/2022 – In the second semi-final of the Speedchess Championship on chess.com Magnus Carlsen meets Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and that gives the World Champion the opportunity for a little revenge. After all, in the semi-finals of the Speedchess Championship 2020 Carlsen had lost to "MVL", who then lost to Hikaru Nakamura in the final. This time Carlsen wants to do better, but of course "MVL" has other plans. Action starts at 19:00 CET (10:00 PT). With live commentary by Laurent Fressinet and Peter Heine Nielsen. | Graphics: chess.com

12/16/2022 – Hikaru Nakamura defeated Nihal Sarin by a 14½-10½ score in the first semifinal of the Speed Chess Championship. Naka, who won every edition of the online event since 2018, will face either Magnus Carlsen or Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final match, which is set to take place on December 20.

12/16/2022 – Viktor Korchnoi ( 1931 - 2016 ) was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating personalities in the chess world. The two-time World Championship finalist played successful and attractive chess, even into old age. We have a great Korchnoi bundle for you in our ChessBase Shop. The Fritztrainer - My life for chess, and the Masterclass Vol. 15 - Viktor Korchnoi. The complete package is available for only €49.90 and is now also available as a streaming version.